Garbage CY Young Award Voting

November 17, 2016 1:38 PM

Justin Verlander (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

The AL and NL CY Young Award winners were announced yesterday and surprise! There’s controversy. Folks are freaking out.

And not because Max Scherzer somehow ran away with the award in the NL, ripping it from the likes of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. But rather Rick Porcello, a 15 game loser a year ago, just did beat out Justin Verlander, who just got jammed by the voters.

Well, not the voters, but two dudes, who decided not to include him on their ballots at all.

Voters are asked to list their top five picks in order. A first place vote is worth 7 points, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth. Porcello won by a margin of just five points, one of the closest races ever.

But again, two of the voters left him off their ballots altogether, Fred Goodall of the Associated Press and Bill Chastain of MLB.com. If they had both voted him third or better, Verlander wins.

Oh, and if he wins, he not only wins his second CY Young Award, but gets a $500 grand bonus: so if I’m Verlander, I’d be raging this am.

Look, just including him on the ballot doesn’t mean he would have won. 7 other writers voted him fourth or fifth; if both these guys do that, he still doesn’t win. And if you want to argue that he was fourth or fifth, I’ll listen to that. There’s a valid argument there. But there’s no argument or justification for leaving this guy off the ballot altogether.

Just as there is no argument for mailing in your ballot before the end of the season, something Chastain actually did. This cat says he sent his ballot in a week early, thinking nothing would change in the last week of the season. Never mind that Verlander hadn’t finished out his season yet and the Tigers were still trying to get into the postseason!

Apparently, Chastain had seen enough and just fired of his ballot, saying, “At the time I thought I picked the best five guys. Maybe I should have waited until the end. When I voted, it looked pretty clear to me.”

Maybe I should have waited until the end? Ya think, Bill? Why to take that responsibility seriously. Way to respect the process.

No worries. It’s only the CY Young Award. And a potential half a mill to Verlander.

Again, quote, ‘when I voted, it looked pretty clear to me’ if that’s the case, why not just send your ballot in over the All-Star break when you have a couple of days off? Better yet just send in your 2017 ballot right now.

If this guy isn’t on your ballot, you shouldn’t have a vote.

I’m not saying you have vote for Verlander number one. Or even two or three. I’m saying if he’s not in your top five, you shouldn’t have a vote. The guy led the AL in innings, strikeouts and whip. The only edge Porcello had over him was wins: something that reliant on run production and the quality of your bullpen; in other words, things that had nothing to do with Porcello.

If Verlander isn’t on your top five, it’s because you didn’t do your homework or it’s personal. Either way, you shouldn’t have vote. Vote him fourth or fifth but don’t leave him off the ballot. That’s garbage.